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Published: April 16th 2013
1 April 2013
Not every single hole in the ground in Vietnam is a bomb crater; some are buffalo wallows and some are sunken round graves; but an awful lot of them are bomb craters around here. There is so much recent history on the ground in this place. Loads of it left unexploded too.
There is also some ancient history - what's left to spot between craters that is. We made the trip to My Son to see the 9th century Cham ruins, and what remains after the French stole the important bits ( like heads of statues) and then US bombing, is not much to write home about. Most of the site is under archaeological survey or reconstruction. And it is crowded. Far too crowded. But they sell nice handbags there.....
We have just spent three days in Hoi An which is situated below the seventeenth parallel and saw little destructive action in the 60's. It is a very picturesque little town of lanterns surrounded by memories of a war.
Back on the train again now; Da Nang to Nha Thrang. The longest leg so far should take about 11 hours.....
We skipped the
DMZ and took a taxi from Hue to Hoi An, to take a break from the train, and to see a little more country side under gentler conditions. At least you can ask the taxi driver to stop to take pictures of the spectacular scenery, and you don't have any rude people to deal with.
The Vietnamese rural scenery is unforgettable. I think I keep harping on about this. The most frustrating thing about being here is our shortness of time. I look out of the train and taxi windows and think: oh to be doing this on a motorbike with unlimited time and the freedom to get away from tourism and its irritations!! But with only two weeks to cover Hanoi to Saigon we have no choice but to follow the well worn path.
The drive from Hue is amazing. Cau Hai lagoon is full of fish farms and blue fishing boats ( and of course plastic- just don't look down...) then winding up and down again through hills you come to the Lang Co estuary, again intensively farmed, with oyster and shrimp farms dotting the pale sapphire water. Past the river mouth you get a teasing
glimpse of the golden stretch of beach, so far undiscovered by Russians and resorts, with only fishing boats lying on the sand in the sun. Then its up into the sea cloud mountain pass and the lush green and blue vistas. And then the obligatory taxi stop at the peak ostensibly to see the ruins of French and American lookouts but actually to be harassed into buying shitty trinkets.
"You don't buy anything!?" says the driver with a look of great disappointment and pain on his face. You'd swear he had hand made the stuff himself and by rejecting it we were truly hurting his feelings.
Da Nang emerges from the haze and we take the coastal road past My Khe (China Beach) where the US landed their troops. The sun is shining, the water is clear and the beach is loooong and empty. Pity we can't linger.
Last stop, Marble Mountains - the three pimples in the flat landscape you can see from miles away. No, let me rephrase that: the last attempt at a stop by the driver. As he pulled up to park, we said: "keep the motor running, head back to the highway".
I think the vendors must have spotted us with binoculars as we were descending the pass 30km away, and had been waiting patiently for us to arrive. It was like paparazzi pouncing on our car as we approached. NOT dealing with that on a perfectly good day. Again a mortified driver.
Actually, I should give our driver a little more credit. He was young, drove really well, and was only taking us to places that other people had asked to go to before us. He was probably briefed by his owner to get us to shop and eat as much as possible on the journey as the taxi company gets kick backs, and he probably got into trouble when he got back without making any sales. Poor lad was just doing what he was told to.
Last real stop, Hoi An Lantern Hotel, a good value for money hotel just outside the old town centre. We had asked for a quiet room with a view, but it seems all they had available was a room with a view, a street facing view. Imagine this; no, you won't be able to unless you have been to Vietnam before but
I'll try to describe it: one thousand motorbikes per minute, of which at least half are hooting their hooters. Then add a bus or three, a garbage collection truck which plays a tune (like an ice cream van) and several cars also hooting happily. This is Vietnamese small town traffic. It is fierce and ceaseless and ridiculously noisy. And it doesn't stop at night.
Anyway, we hired bikes and set off to explore all the beaches, fishing and boat building villages, and farms we could get to by bicycle. It was our attempt at anti tourism, and paid off with some great photographs of life happening, and a chance meeting with a Vietnamese family in a basket boat - granny and grandpa delivering their two grandchildren to their daughter on the mainland. What a beautiful but sad picture. The little girl was blind, deaf and dumb - another victim of the ever present and internationally ignored dioxins such as those in Agent Orange.
The next morning we set off by bus to My Son. We had decided to do it this way because the tour included a boat trip back into Hoi An, but as usual we were
sorry that we didn't just head off by ourselves on a motorbike. The rusty bathtub of a boat dropped us off in Hoi An and the approach to the wharf was the only lovely thing about the trip. You could imagine traders from China, Japan, and Europe arriving here centuries ago to trade in .....tailor made clothes and shoes and jewellery?
"We can copy anything" is proudly displayed in each and every shop window. Hoi An is the budget market's Hong Kong for bespoke tailoring. I capitulated. I chose a pretty hip floral crepe and had an Ao zai ( traditional Vietnamese ladies dress) with some twists, made up in 24 hours. I did things backwards and chose the tailor by the fabric. It wasn't that cheap and the quality is probably not first grade, but I like it and the service was friendly and not at all pushy. Many people come to Hoi An purely for the tailoring. If you do, be sure to have an idea of what you want. It can be quite intimidating standing in a cloth shop and having to make a quick decision about fabric and style if you are not prepared.
Hoi An is the prettiest and most well preserved town we have passed through in Vietnam. The streets of renovated houses, some with wooden fronts, others painted yellow, are so photogenic, but you have to be up early otherwise all you see is tourists. The Chinese meeting halls, atmospheric restaurants, crowded quays stacked with blue boats and bustling town market are great to explore, and some of the best food on our trip was to be had at the night food market at Mr Hi's stall. Cycling around is pleasant, and the road to the beach, along the river is lined with shady restaurants, rice paddies and fish farms. It is not surprising that this place is so popular.
I could have spent a week there, but we are running out of time and are now heading for Nha Trang. This time I have a really considerate lady in the seat in front and don't need to drop sesame seeds from my Huong Loan in her hair as she is not lying in my lap.....
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